Skip to content
Search AI Powered
Human content, AI powered search.

Latest Stories

newsworthy

U.K. firm plans same-day delivery service in U.S.

UPS equity division, two others to invest $2 million in Shutl.

Mark Solomon
By Mark SolomonAug 29, 2012
Mark Solomon
Mark Solomon joined DC VELOCITY as senior editor in August 2008, and was promoted to his current position on January 1, 2015. He has spent more than 30 years in the transportation, logistics and supply chain management fields as a journalist and public relations professional. From 1989 to 1994, he worked in Washington as a reporter for the Journal of Commerce, covering the aviation and trucking industries, the Department of Transportation, Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to that, he worked for Traffic World for seven years in a similar role. From 1994 to 2008, Mr. Solomon ran Media-Based Solutions, a public relations firm based in Atlanta. He graduated in 1978 with a B.A. in journalism from The American University in Washington, D.C.
See Full Bio

A U.K. delivery company that very few have heard of is poised to expand into the U.S. same-day delivery market, with a little help from a company that everyone has heard of.

London-based Shutl, which has been providing same-day delivery service in the United Kingdom since March 2010, said it plans to enter the U.S. market in early 2013. It will be aided by a $2 million investment from, among others, the UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund, the private equity arm of UPS Inc. Other investors include European express provider GeoPost and venture capital firm Hummingbird Ventures, Shutl said.

In a statement, Shutl said it will use the proceeds to acquire retail partners that will help its push into the United States. "The investment demonstrates the interest of UPS in exploring different options for helping retailers serve online customers," the company said in a statement.

Tom Allison, Shutl's founder and CEO, estimated that the U.S. same-day delivery market would be worth $26 billion in 2016.

Shutl uses local courier companies to provide deliveries to online and in-store customers either within 90 minutes, or within a one-hour window of their choice. It boasts the record for the world's fastest e-commerce delivery, with a customer taking receipt of their goods within 15 minutes of checking out online.

Shutl's move comes as e-tailing giant Amazon.com and online auctioneer eBay are strongly weighing the potential of same-day delivery services. According to a recent published report, Amazon plans to build or lease new distribution centers (DCs) in at least six states after agreeing to collect sales taxes in those states. By doing so, Amazon can legally open warehouses and DCs in some of the nation's most heavily populated areas and offer same-day deliveries for an additional fee, according to the report.

ArticleTruckingTransportation
shutloctober 2012ups
ArticleTruckingTransportation
shutloctober 2012ups

The Latest

screenshot of agentic AI for logistics
Article

HappyRobot lands $15.6 million backing for its agentic AI

containers at shipyard
Article

CMA CGM to build up Saudi Arabian logistics network

forklift carrying goods through a warehouse
Article

RJW Logistics gains private equity backing

More Stories

Logistics economy continues on solid footing
Logistics Managers' Index

Logistics economy continues on solid footing

Economic activity in the logistics industry expanded in November, continuing a steady growth pattern that began earlier this year and signaling a return to seasonality after several years of fluctuating conditions, according to the latest Logistics Managers’ Index report (LMI), released today.

The November LMI registered 58.4, down slightly from October’s reading of 58.9, which was the highest level in two years. The LMI is a monthly gauge of business conditions across warehousing and logistics markets; a reading above 50 indicates growth and a reading below 50 indicates contraction.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

conveyor carrying e-commerce boxes
Internal Movement

Motion Industries to acquire International Conveyor and Rubber

worldacs chart of worlds busiest freight airports
Air Cargo

WorldACD: Air cargo growth spiked in Asia Pacific for October

chart on number of carriers per retailers
Article

E-com retailers produce fastest delivery times since COVID-19

maersk dual fuel containership
Article

Maersk orders 20 dual-fuel container vessels

iceberg drawing to illustrate supply chain threats

GEP: six factors could change calm to storm in 2025

The current year is ending on a calm note for the logistics sector, but 2025 is on pace to be an era of rapid transformation, due to six driving forces that will shape procurement and supply chains in coming months, according to a forecast from New Jersey-based supply chain software provider GEP.

"After several years of mitigating inflation, disruption, supply shocks, conflicts, and uncertainty, we are currently in a relative period of calm," John Paitek, vice president, GEP, said in a release. "But it is very much the calm before the coming storm. This report provides procurement and supply chain leaders with a prescriptive guide to weathering the gale force headwinds of protectionism, tariffs, trade wars, regulatory pressures, uncertainty, and the AI revolution that we will face in 2025."

Keep ReadingShow less
supply chain workers counting boxes in warehouse

US Bank tracks top three supply chain impacts for 2025

Freight transportation sector analysts with US Bank say they expect change on the horizon in that market for 2025, due to possible tariffs imposed by a new White House administration, the return of East and Gulf coast port strikes, and expanding freight fraud.

“All three of these merit scrutiny, and that is our promise as we roll into the new year,” the company said in a statement today.

Keep ReadingShow less
chart of business concerns from descartes

Descartes: businesses say top concern is tariff hikes

Business leaders at companies of every size say that rising tariffs and trade barriers are the most significant global trade challenge facing logistics and supply chain leaders today, according to a survey from supply chain software provider Descartes.

Specifically, 48% of respondents identified rising tariffs and trade barriers as their top concern, followed by supply chain disruptions at 45% and geopolitical instability at 41%. Moreover, tariffs and trade barriers ranked as the priority issue regardless of company size, as respondents at companies with less than 250 employees, 251-500, 501-1,000, 1,001-50,000 and 50,000+ employees all cited it as the most significant issue they are currently facing.

Keep ReadingShow less
chart of shipping business conditions

Shippers Conditions index reached high-point in September

A measure of business conditions for shippers improved in September due to lower fuel costs, looser trucking capacity, and lower freight rates, but the freight transportation forecasting firm FTR still expects readings to be weaker and closer to neutral through its two-year forecast period.

Bloomington, Indiana-based FTR is maintaining its stance that trucking conditions will improve, even though its Shippers Conditions Index (SCI) improved in September to 4.6 from a 2.9 reading in August, reaching its strongest level of the year.

Keep ReadingShow less
Copyright ©2024.